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IEEE and Industrial Internet Consortium making IoT interoperable

August 12, 201509:21Stuart Corner

The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) and the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) are to collaborate to develop a “comprehensive architecture for an interoperable Internet of Things (IoT) around the world.” They have entered into a liaison agreement under which IIC and the IEEE P2413 Architectural Framework for the Internet of Things (IoT) Working Group will share their stakeholders’ expertise on requirements for the industrial IoT and gaps in interoperability standards.

The IIC will supply IoT requirements from the industrial perspective. In turn, The IEEE P2413 working group will provide the IIC with draft specifications for the standard that it is developing, as well as a gap analysis relative to current IoT standards, with the aim of making IoT interoperable

IIC executive director, Dr Richard Soley, said: “The IIC brings together the organisations and technologies necessary to accelerate growth of the industrial Internet by identifying, assembling and promoting best practices learned through the development of IIC testbeds, and our work with IEEE-SA in the IoT sector is aligned with those goals.”

Harmonisation critical for market growth

He added: “Harmonisation of architecture and standards in the Internet of Things is critical for growing the market. The IIC and IEEE-SA are two globally recognised leaders with synergistic activities across the full lifecycle of IoT implementation, and this liaison agreement stands to help ensure that industrial IoT requirements are met both in IEEE P2413 and other architectural-framework standards.”

The IIC was founded by AT&T, Cisco, General Electric, IBM and Intel in March 2014 and how has a membership of over 180 comprised of major technology companies, industrial end-users, government bodies and academics. It says it “catalyses and coordinates the priorities and enabling technologies of the industrial Internet.”

Oleg Logvinov, chair of the IEEE P2413 working group and director special assignments, Industrial and Power Conversion Division, STMicroelectronics, said: “With IoT innovation already so rapidly paced around the world, cooperation and coordination among the leading global organisations in the space is required to ensure that momentum is not stalled and progress toward a robust and interoperable IoT is achieved as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.

He added: “The IEEE-SA began convening cross-discipline workshops and roundtables among global IoT leaders years ago, and those conversations have led to a number of important activities both across and beyond IEEE. The IEEE IoT Initiative and IEEE Internet Initiative are among the examples, as now is the IEEE P2413 working group’s collaboration with the IIC.”